Coyote Ugly
by beautiflxoblvn
Summary: You all know and love the movie Coyote Ugly, right? Shy songwriter, stage fright, sexy as hell male lead… ring a bell? Well here's my version of one of my favorite movies… with a twist. ;)


**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own, nor do I profit from, the Disney Channel program 'Austin & Ally', the movie 'Coyote Ugly' or the characters therein. They are simply used in the following story for my own entertainment. No copyright infringement intended.

**I know what you must be thinking… another f* &ing multi-chap when she still has four others in the works?! Just finish one already! And… you're right. (Dodges flying tomatoes.) I swear I am working on all of them, especially I'll Be Seeing You which has not been updated in a very long time. Unfortunately I had massive writers block, but I am finally back on track with that one as well as the others. I'll explain more after this first chapter, but, I need to let you know now… I will not update this one again for a little while because I am going to focus on getting other updates done first. This has just been eating its way out of me for a while now and I just have to get at least one chapter up to know what you guys think, so please, let me know in a review whether this is something you would like to see more of in the future. If not, no worries, but that's the only way I'm ever going to know if it's any good or not. That being said… enjoy! ;)**

**CHAPTER ONE: Leaving Town**

_-South Amboy, New Jersey-_

Pete's Pizzeria was just a small little place in the center of town. Perfectly placed on the corner of Main Street, the locals spent much of their free time hanging out in their diner-like atmosphere, telling the same old stories and ordering the same old thing day after day. It was the perfect place for Ally to be as she grew up. She'd worked their every day since she was only fifteen, making, baking, and serving up 'pies' to earn all the money she could in her teens and early twenties.

The place wasn't impressive by any means, but, it was home.

"Why don't you like, ever realize the truth, Vince? I ate nine pies and a _'meatball hero'_ in one hour. That's a record."

"It wasn't nine pies, it was eight. You left two slices of mushroom on the last tray," Vince replied, looking disinterested as he pushed his food around on his plate.

The other man, Tony, shook his head in disbelief and looked up to Ally who was pulling a fresh pizza from the oven behind the counter. "Ally?"

Ally was a simpleton, dressed in a plain blue tee shirt with her plain blue jeans and short brown boots covered by her greasy apron. Her long, wavy chestnut hair was pulled back in a low ponytail, small tendrils of hair falling around her face as she smiled endearingly toward the men having their debate. "You guys, it was six pies. No _'hero,'"_ she said as she carried the pizza over to the island and set it down, grabbing the cutter and immediately rolling it across the pie to make eight perfectly shaped slices. "I had to call the paramedics to pump your stomach, and it was three and a half years ago. When are you gonna talk about something else?"

Tony looked up at her, eyebrows raised as he chewed on the latest bite of his slice. "When someone comes through that door and breaks the record, then we'll stop talkin' about the subject."

Ally smiled and shook her head at the men and carried her freshly cut pizza over to the customers waiting at the other end of the counter. "Enjoy your pie, guys," she said and she walked away, untying the apron from behind her and smiling with a look of excitement and relief on her face. "It's the last one _I'll_ ever serve."

"Aren't you forgetting something?" her boss, Pete asked as he watched her walk by and stuff her apron in the cubby under the counter. He quickly moved over to the time clock and pulled her card from its designated slot.

She sighed and shook her head. "Quit it, Pete. I'm not doing that."

Pete grabbed a black magic marker and walked over to her, a slightly saddened expression in his eyes as he held the card up in front of her. "It's a tradition. Sign the card," he smiled at her.

Ally tilted her head and looked at the older man but couldn't resist his small plea. A small smile broke out on her face and she snatched the card from his hand, grabbing the marker and wrote out her signature big and bold across the thing, putting the cap back on with a snap when she was done.

Pete grabbed it immediately and held it up for the entire parlor to see. "I got it, folks. I got the _first_ autograph."

The few patrons that were in the pizza parlor cheered and clapped for her. Vince and Tony raised their cokes up for a small toast. "Hey, Ally. All right!"

"Ally's on her way to the wall," Pete said as she followed him over to a peg board with several other old time cards pinned to it, signatures scrawled out on them similar to her own. She smiled sweetly at the older man and continued to get ready to leave as he put it up.

Pete stopped for a moment and looked at all the time cards and signature on them pinned to his wall. "That's twenty years of girls leaving town," he said. This caught Ally's attention again and she stopped and looked over her shoulder at him.

Tony pointed his finger toward the spot where Pete was standing. "That wall is jinxed. I won't sit near that wall."

Pete shook his head at the man and turned his attention back to Ally who gave him a sad smile. "Let's hope you have better luck than they did," he said to her with a smile, knowing without a doubt, that if anyone was going to go out in the world and make their dreams come true, it would be his Ally.

**oOo oOo oOo**

"Yeah DEZ!" a man shouted in the crowded room.

"Ladies and Gentlemen," Dez said with a smile into the microphone from up on the small bar stage. "As you all know, my best friend, Allison Dawson…" he said, pointing down to her in the crowd of people surrounding the stage.

She gave him a small wave and looked at him with a small warning glare. She knew he wouldn't take it seriously though; she was smiling too much.

"…has decided to leave South Amboy tomorrow and travel the forty two miles to New York City." Dez smiled sweetly down on her from the stage, and even though she knew exactly what he was up to, she didn't have it in her heart to be mad at him. She loved and was going to miss him too much.

Ally and the tall charming red-head had been best friends since before she could remember. All their lives it had always been the two of them. Guy-Girl friendships were sadly rare, but theirs was one for the books. They never had any lust or crush-like feelings toward one another, and if she was truly honest, his goofy personality had a little something to do with that growing up. He had been a little out there, wearing funky mismatched clothes, saying the most random things at the most random times, and being just downright weird. He had eventually grown out of that, and now wore mostly normal-looking jeans and sweaters, but with still donned the occasional goofy remark.

Although they were the same age, Dez often acted as an older brother type toward her, and for some reason that relationship had always clicked between them. There was absolutely, one hundred percent nothing sexual between them at all.

His fiancé, Carrie, had been a little uncomfortable with it at first, but it hadn't taken long at all for her to realize that Ally was absolutely no threat to their relationship, and the two of them had actually become extremely good friends as well.

Though it was unconventional, Dez and asked Ally to be his best woman in his wedding, and so in a few short months she would be standing by his side as he took the plunge into marriage, and she couldn't have been more honored or pleased that he had asked her to be there beside him. She got to wear a black dress to match the rest of the groomsmen's tux's and everything. She was beyond elated.

"So," he continued and his eyes darted to his fiancé and her bridesmaids who were all standing around her. "Okay, come on. Bring her up here, girls."

Ally's eyes went wide. What did he mean bring her up here? Up on stage here? She immediately turned to try and run away but Carrie and a few of the other girls already grabbed hold of her arms and were pulling her toward the stage. "Come on, Ally!"

"No," she nervously giggles as they dragged her along. "No, please…"

Dez tilted his head and gave her his best disapproving look. "Come on, Als. Come on everyone!" he smiled. "Hey, Ally, come on. Come up here."

The girls all pushed her from behind as she took the few small stairs that led up to the stage and Dez immediately grabbed her wrist and pulled her the rest of the way.

"Come on, missy…"

"You guys!" she exclaimed once they all surrounded her on stage so that she couldn't escape.

She was definitely not a fan of being on stage.

Dez smirked and placed the loose microphone back into the stand and adjusted it so it was level with her mouth, bending down so he could still use it in the process. "Now, I think it's only fair that tonight, on her last night with us here in Jersey, she grace us with a little tune."

Ally's eyes nearly popped out of her head as she looked up at her best friend. He knew better.

"No way!" she laughed as one of the girls pushed her from behind so she was right up in front of the microphone. She could already hear the beginnings of the song playing, the familiar piano tune twinkling through the speakers as the crowd smiled and cheered for her from down below.

"Go, go, go, go, go!" the bride to be and bridesmaids cheered, holding her in place. They all began to sing for her and around her, Dez included.

"_At first I was afraid, I was petrified… Kept thinking I could never live without you by my side,"_

Dez wrapped an arm around her from one side, pulling her tight to his side as he sung down at her blushing face while Carrie hugged her from the other side.

Ally couldn't help but laugh with endearment.

"_But then I spent so many nights thinking how you did me wrong, that I grew strong…"_

Ally took a deep breath and reminded herself that she was not alone. She was surrounded by people she knew and loved and not all eyes were on solely her, and so she finally gave in and started to sing along.

"…_and I learned how to get along. Oh no, not I. I will survive!"_

The crowd cheered and sang along as Ally, Dez, Carrie, and the other girls all wrapped their arms around one another and bumped their hips together as they held their heads high and sang proudly with each other.

"_Oh, as long as I know how to love I know I'll stay alive. I've got all my life to live, I've got all my love to give. I'll survive,"_

Ally smiled down at the crowd and nodded her head.

"_I will survive."_

**oOo oOo oOo**

The following morning Ally stood over the stove, mindlessly crumbling and tossing ground turkey in a skillet, a nervous but determined expression on her face.

Her father, Lester, watched from his seat at the table in the dining room, a worried expression on his own as he fiddled with the morning newspaper. Looking away from her he whistled to himself. "Look at this!"

Ally shifted her gaze from the skillet before her to the doorway between the kitchen and dining room but never actually turned her head to look at her father. She already knew what he was doing."

"Four people killed last night in New York. No reason at all. Police have no leads. Tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk. Tragic."

Ally stopped what she was doing and turned around. "Dad, what are you doing?"

He ignored her, setting the paper down and flipping the page. "I guess four out of seven million ain't so bad," he called in after her when she shook her head and went back to tending to his breakfast. "Headline should read, 'Millions Survive Night in New York.'" He made a face.

Ally came marching back into the dining room with a plate full of what she had been cooking and set it on the table in front of him. "Dad, stop. I get the point." She sighed. "Here, eat your eggs."

Lester glare-pouted at his daughter and moved his paper out of the way so he could pull the plate over. "They're not eggs. They're egg whites," he corrected as he looked at his plate. "And I'd rather eat the carton."

Ally shook her head as she moved from room to room, gathering miscellaneous items and a jacket. "You've already lost six pounds. You're staying on this diet. No fast food. No sausage," she said giving him a pointed look before hurrying into the kitchen with her things once again. "Oh and I bought you some of those Lean Cuisine meals, and I put them in the freezer."

"My mouth is watering already," Lester mumbled under his breath.

"I lined your vitamins u on the counter," she called out from the kitchen.

This time Lester shook his head and placed his forearms on the table. "I don't take vitamins."

"You do now," Ally said as she came back into the room once again. "Just take them," she smiled. "Oh and I put fresh batteries in the TV remote and set the DVR, so that you can watch-"

"Excuse me. Excuse me… Am I missing something here?" Lester asked, shaking his head and raising his arms into the air for a moment. "I'm the parent. You're the child running away to live by herself," he said with a somewhat saddened expression. "I should be tellin' you how to live."

Ally matched his saddened expression with one of her own and sighed, looking him straight in the eye. "Fine. How should I live?"

Lester took a deep breath but never broke eye contact with her. "Simple. Don't go," he quietly pleaded.

Ally slumped a little where she stood, hating making her father sad but knowing full well that was a wish she could not grant. She needed to do this for herself. She needed to pursue her dream. She sighed and turned away from him, grabbing another duffle bag of her belongings and dragging it over to the front door.

She didn't know what to say to make him feel better, so she went right back to listing off things she had gotten and done for him. "I got that Irish Spring you like. Oh, and, dad? Whatever you do," she said turning back toward him again. "Don't do the laundry."

Lester mouthed the words right along with her as she said them, knowing full well what she was going to say to him. He had, after all, raised her. He knew her well enough, and himself well enough to know what she was going to say to him.

He loved her all that much more for it.

"Just leave it by the dryer and I'll do it when I come home every Sunday." She began packing more items into her numerous duffle bags and totes.

Lester nibbled on his breakfast as he continued to read the newspaper before him, choosing to ignore his bossy but generous daughter. "Oh this is interesting. They say the handrails on the subway system could one day lead to an outbreak of plague," he called out to her before raising his eyebrows and taking a sip of his morning coffee.

Ally came back to his side and tilted her head at him once again. She was becoming exhausted with this entire conversation. It was all he tried to do to stop her from leaving for over a month now. "Dad…" she said as she pulled out another chair and took a seat with him at the table. "Look, you said I could be whatever I wanted to be…"

Lester pouted a little. "I never said 'Songwriter in New York City.' That's the exception."

"You said anything and I believed you, so…" she sighed, begging him with her eyes. "I'm not leaving this house without your support."

From outside she could hear her ride was already honking the horn.

"That's Dez," she said looking pointedly at her father. "What's it gonna be?"

Lester sat back in his chair and crossed his arms, sighing. He stayed silent for a long moment before he finally brought his eyes up to meet hers again, and he immediately felt his resolve starting to crumble. "Ally, I saw how hard it was for your mother when she didn't make it. But, if she was here, she'd tell me to shut up, wish you luck and give you a big hug."

Ally looked at him with a tiny smile on her face.

Lester pursed his lips for a moment then continued talking. "I'm not gonna give you a big hug and I'm not gonna wish you luck, but… I am gonna shut up, sit here with my coffee and pretend to be mad, is that okay?"

Ally looked sadly at her father, wanting nothing more than that hug and wish of good luck but accepting the fact that she wasn't going to get it today. She knew he wasn't trying to be callous. He was hurting, and afraid, and this was his way of coping. She had learned that over the twenty three years of living with the man and so she couldn't hold it against him. They would be okay. She still longed for that hug, but instead nodded, pursed her lips in equal fashion and stood from the table, grabbing an armful of duffle bags and heading out the front door.

Dez was outside waiting with his car, dark sunglasses covering his no doubt hung-over eyes. Ally couldn't help but chuckle and shake her head when she saw he was sipping directly from a bottle of Pepto Bismol. His combined bachelor/bachelorette party the night prior had obviously been a success.

Over the next half hour the two of them took turns climbing the stairs of the front porch and grabbing boxes and bags, playing a real-life game of Tetris to get everything to fit into the car without blocking his vision for the drive.

"This is the last of it," Ally said as she brought out one last basket of sheets and miscellaneous items, handing it to him to stuff somewhere into the car. As they struggles and fumbled to fit it in and close the door, Lester came out onto the front porch, a defeated pout gracing his lips as he watched his little girl pack up.

"That's everything1" Ally exclaimed once they finally got the car door to shut and stay shut.

Dez nodded at her and put his sunglasses back over his tired eyes. "Let's hit it."

"Good luck!" Lester called from the front porch, causing Ally to stop in her tracks as she was climbing into the front passenger seat of the SUV. She looked up at him with surprised eyes.

Lester pouted but smiled. "There, I said it."

Ally smiled and giggled, running up on the porch and stealing away that hug she had been waiting for.

Lester wrapped his arms tightly around his daughter, taking in her scent one last time before she would leave him for good.

"Love you," Ally smiled when they pulled apart.

Lester smiled but quickly became serious again. "I put some pepper spray in your purse. Even if you're not sure, just start spraying."

Ally chuckled and nodded and they both looked over at Dez leaning in his doorway looking up at them with a smile.

"You know, you're not alone, Mr. Dawson. Hey you know, me and you should have dinner sometime," the red head smiled at him.

Lester raised his eyebrows and nodded, quickly turning back toward his front door to escape into his home. "I'm locking the doors…" he mumbled under his breath, only Ally catching what he said and shaking her head laughing as she descended the stairs and hopped into the front seat, Dez starting the SUV with a roar.

He smiled at her. "You ready?"

She smiled back. "Ready…"

_At first I was afraid, I was petrified. Kept thinkin' I could never live without you by my side…_

**To Be Continued…**

**Okay, so, about the others:**

**I'll Be Seeing You – 70% done with the next chapter. Hoping to have it up in the next two weeks.**

**In The Army Now – This is technically complete so I update every Sunday.**

**Coming Clean – In need of some serious TLC. The chapters aren't making much sense so I've had to go pretty far into the future of the story in order to fix the present before I can post. Hopefully that makes sense.**

**Peacocks & Pandemonium – The chapters I have are very short so I'm trying to make them all longer so that I can update regularly.**

**Hope this explains a little, I know so many of you have been asking about these and believe me when I say I am working on it! But, in the meantime, here's this lovely piece to chew on. :) Review, Fav, & Follow! Oh, and if you haven't seen the movie Coyote Ugly since it may be a tad before your time for some of you… DO IT.**


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